AM I wrong in thinking that most football fans would be delighted by a trip to Wembley for the Carling Cup Final?

I was fortunate to be at the Twin Towers commentating when Villa won the Coca-Cola Cup twice in the 90s and in 2001 when Blues faced Liverpool at the Millennium Stadium in what was then the Worthington Cup.

All three finals were great games, brilliant days out and memorable footballing occasions.

Today the competition is demeaned by those who should know better. I am talking about certain managers and coaches and, in particular, the national media who all believe that football begins with Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool and ends with the Champions League. And they are now close to inviting big-spending Manchester City and media darlings Spurs into their private party, just in case they happen to qualify for the Champions League.

So the Carling Cup has to take a back seat with those hypnotised by TV’s multi millions even suggesting the competition be dumped or changed to become a tournament for lower clubs.

I was talking to one national pressman a few days ago and he was telling me how the competition’s sponsors are dreading a Championship team making the final or, in fact, anyone outside what they considered to be the big clubs.

How arrogant are these people? Thankfully most fans are still up for the cup and would love to see their team in the final.

They should remember that the Championship is the fourth most-watched league in Europe.

To all those managers, coaches and players who are dismissive of the Carling Cup, try putting pound notes into your trophy cabinet.

? WEST Bromwich Albion boss Roberto Di Matteo has quietly gone about transforming the Baggies from a pretty, passing – yet defensively weak – team into one that still tries to play the right way but has more defensive awareness all over the park.

Consequently they are the league’s leading scorers and have the joint second-best goals-against record.

He has installed a “winning mentality” into the players whereby they are only concerned with three points. If they can get those three points in free-scoring style then so be it, but if those points can only be won by playing ugly and defensively strong then that’s the way it will have to be.

It’s become perfectly clear to me in my regular chats with Di Matteo that winning isn’t everything – it’s the only thing!

? I WAS out of the area one night last week listening to a live game on a national radio station when the presenter mentioned the coming weekend and the big derby games.

He was ecstatic talking about Arsenal against Chelsea and, of course, the big Merseyside clash between Liverpool and Everton.

Then he said: “Of course, there is one other derby we mustn’t forget...”

I thought ‘well done, he is going to mention the Wolves against Blues clash at Molineux’. How wrong I was. He was positively salivating about Barcelona against Real Madrid!

How that is a derby when they are two different cities is totally beyond me.

However, it does sum up what we all know in our neck of the woods – as far as the national media are concerned, the West Midlands doesn’t really figure unless one of our clubs is playing one of the top-four clubs.